Iraq: Numbers Game
The number of American casualties in Iraq is much higher than what is being reported
On Sunday it was announced that the 4,000th American soldier was killed in Iraq. Ironically, some 97% of these deaths occurred after George W. Bush had declared victory over Saddam Hussein. The war-friendly mass media in the US tries to play down these statistics by noting that the vast majority of these deaths result from roadside bombs and not actual combat.
Yet for those fighting an urban guerilla war, there is no difference between the two. War is war, and despite declarations by the American government that the war is technically over, it actually isn't. Moreover, the American soldiers which have thus far died and which will continue to die are casualties of this war, whether killed directly in face to face combat or indirectly through the use of a roadside bombs or other like devices.
Aside from such technicalities, the number of Americans killed in Iraq is much higher than the official figure. The official figure quotes only the number of US marines killed in Iraq. This figure doesn't include the number of mercenaries killed in Iraq. When this figure is also taken into account, the overall number of American deaths in Iraq rises quite sharply.
At present there are about 150,000 US-paid mercenaries fighting in Iraq - almost the same number as American regular forces. The main difference between the mercenaries and US soldiers is the latter is a public army funded by the government; the former is a private army run by corporations.
By using the term "private contractor" the mass media in the US has skillfully played down the role of America's mercenary army in Iraq. The negative connotations associated with the term mercenary are skillfully hidden behind a more friendly term that one associates with a security guard in shopping center. Yet whether they are called mercenaries or private contractors, the dirty work they do is all the same: they are soldiers of fortune who kill and are killed for the sake of money and not some warped sense of patriotic duty.
Sadly, the use of so many mercenaries in Iraq is not that much of a surprise to many. In essence, it's a reflection of our times. The neo-liberalist concept of privatization and outsourcing has been simply extended to warfare. Hence, the use of mercenaries has now become an integral part of the way in which the US fights wars.
As in other areas where government involvement and oversight has been handed over to the private sector, public scrutiny and accountability over the activities of American mercenaries are lacking. Thus, the Bush Administration has been able to deploy mercenary units to take certain actions which would otherwise be considered criminal from a strict military perspective, as regular soldiers are bound by the Geneva Convention. American mercenaries, on the other hand, aren't bound by any such convention. As a result, the deaths, injuries and crimes committed by these forces are shrouded in secrecy and shielded in the US from accountability, oversight, and legal constraints.
The reprehensible task of American mercenaries in Iraq is also shielded from public scrutiny thanks to the role of the mainstream media. In the US there is near silence on the issue as the unprecedented reliance on privatized forces is only rarely noted by the press. According to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism released in the middle of last year, only 93 out or more than 400 media outlets in the US ever mentioned private military contractors beyond a brief account of a death or injury.
Mercenary deaths in Iraq give an indication of the actual state of the conflict
The end result of all this is that the public perception of the war in Iraq is managed in such a way that it makes the situation appear not as bad as it really is. When taking the true number of dead into consideration, that is, counting the deaths of American soldiers together with that of the number of mercenaries killed in Iraq, the number of dead rises to over 5,100 - 4,000 regular soldiers and 1,100 mercenaries. In other words, for every four soldiers killed in Iraq one mercenary is also killed.
Yet many experts regard even this number as an undercount of the total number of Americans killed in Iraq. This is because mercenary deaths are most probably much higher. The number of mercenaries killed is calculated not by the actual number of deaths but by the number of insurance claims filed. Thus, mercenaries killed in Iraq whose families or employers don't seek compensation are not counted.
The importance of mercenary deaths in Iraq is that they give an indication of the actual state of the conflict. Both the US government and the American mass media have painted a picture of a situation which is stabilizing thanks to the so-called "surge" strategy in which an extra 25,000 to 30,000 troops were sent to Iraq. Hence, the much touted fact that the number of army casualties is down since the start of the surge is somehow proof that this American strategy is working.
Yet when mercenary deaths are taken into account, a totally different picture emerges. According to a New York Times report ("Contractor Deaths in Iraq Soar to Record") from May 2007, "casualties among private contractors in Iraq have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the civilians who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according to new government numbers." Hence, when these statistics are combined with official military statistics, the notion that the "surge" is working turns out to be false.
In other words, the so-called surge isn't working at all: the declining number of US soldiers being killed has been offset by the increase in the number of mercenaries killed. Meanwhile, the actual security situation in Iraq is more or less unchanged. The violence still continues, and recently shells were fired into the "green zone", killing over half a dozen people. This clearly demonstrates that the war in Iraq is far from over.
Naturally, when speaking of the number of deaths in Iraq little or no mention is made of the number of Iraqis killed in the conflict. There are no precise numbers but most estimates agree that hundreds of thousands have been killed. But since they are Iraqis it appears they are less important even though these people are mostly innocent civilians. Soldiers are paid to be killed, thus the fact that they die shouldn't be given priority over civilian deaths. However, because they are Americans their deaths are made to appear more tragic.
On top of all this, even less mention is made of the legions of men and women who have been scarred for life because of the war, either physically or mentally. The latest count is that there are about 100,000 mentally ill and wounded American soldiers now out of Iraq (mercenaries not included). As more and more of these people become visible to the American public, it will be increasingly harder for the American government and the mass media in the US to hide the true cost of this superfluous war. When this situation ultimately hits critical mass, there will be then little political talk of timetables for withdraw; instead, the American military, together with its mercenary sidekick, will flee from Iraq with its tail between its legs ? just as it did decades ago in Vietnam.